The Phillipian Presents

The 2016 Mock Election: Politics at Andover

Photo-Illustration: T. Rynne and R. Fawcett/The Phillipian

Hillary Clinton received overwhelming support from Andover students in a survey conducted by The Phillipian, vol. CXXXIX about the presidential race and several other political issues. Of the 1,148 students surveyed, 71.4 percent responded, and 69.2 percent completed the survey. Clinton received 73 percent of the votes, compared to 15.4 percent for Donald Trump. Third-party candidates received the support of 11.7 percent of students – with Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party candidate, taking 7.0 percent of the vote, and Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, receiving 4.7 percent.

In the same survey sent to faculty members, 50 percent completed the survey. Ninety-four percent plan to vote for Clinton and 4.4 percent plan to vote for Trump. Johnson received 1.7 percent of support and not a single faculty member chose Stein.

Whom do you support in the upcoming presidential election?

69.2% of students and 50% of faculty completed the survey.

Hillary Clinton

76%

Donald J. Trump

13%

Inspired by FiveThirtyEight. Illustrations: A. Lu/The Phillipian

6%

Gary Johnson

4%

Jill Stein

John Rogers, Instructor in Physics, was not surprised by the faculty responses.

“I think there’s an assumption that everyone on the faculty is supporting Hillary Clinton,” said Rogers. “If it was clear that there was a divide on the faculty, it would be more of an issue than in a typical election.”

Only 37 percent of faculty respondents approve of requiring voters to provide a photo ID when voting.

In contrast, 64 percent of students favor a law requiring photo ID to vote.

Kyle Welch ’18 said, “You need an ID to drive in the country, you need an ID to get alcohol, you need an ID to do almost anything as a legal adult – except for voting. And [not having a requirement] allows people to cheat the system. It allows for a lot of votes to pop out of thin air without any identification behind them. Having an ID largely prevents that from happening.”

Courtesy of Leah Adelman

Leah Adelman ’17, a four-year Senior from Atlanta, Ga., sent in her absentee ballot Thursday. “I voted for Hillary Clinton because she’s the most qualified candidate,” she said.

Seventy-seven percent of student respondents felt that undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay in the United States and eventually apply for citizenship, while 14.0 percent believe they should be required to leave the United States. Ten percent of students surveyed believe people should be allowed to stay in the U.S. legally but not be allowed to apply for citizenship.

Trevor Lazar ’17, a four-year Senior from Scottsdale, Ariz., said, “I think with folks that are already here, they should be allowed to stay in the country and be given a quick and reasonable path to at least a visa or a Green Card, if not citizenship – mainly because they drive a lot of the economic prosperity that has taken hold in parts of the country that have large amounts of undocumented workers. They should be able to gain the protection of the government and make sure their rights as workers are protected.”

The results of the survey revealed that 80.5 percent of students would support a U.S. effort to accept refugees from Syria and other places of conflict in the Middle East.

“I think that as one of the more financially well-off countries in the world, we have a human and moral responsibility to take in refugees,” said Sam Bird ’18. “At the same point, making sure that, for the citizens of this nation, refugees are properly screened, and then making sure that refugees have proper accommodations when they can come to the United States, so they don’t have to worry about housing for the time being.”

Faculty and student respondents were also asked to answer questions about their views on background checks for gun purchases, income inequality, and hydraulic fracking.

“I think that towards the beginning of the race, it sparked a wide divide among students because a lot of students were very strongly in support of Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton and then a lot of students weren’t sure. But I think as the actual election has gotten closer, it seems like the diversity of opinion has dwindled. It seems like there are a lot of people who are pro-Hillary, and most people it seems are anti-Trump. It seems that the divide of the student body before the election has closed just because there aren’t as many students who support Trump as there were before.”

Christian Lippey ’17

The color associated with this quote is only a representation of the political party of the speaker, and not of whom they voted for.

The Triumph in Trump

“I support higher taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations because they have more capital to offer to the advancement of the greater good in the public economy. Consumer spending does not decrease on their part, but it quite literally does when poor people are taxed to the same degree”

Abdelaziz Bahnasy ’17

The color associated with this quote is only a representation of the political party of the speaker, and not of whom they voted for.

What are your general feelings regarding the election and its impact on the Andover community?

C. Suan/The Phillipian

“You need an ID to drive in the country, you need an ID to get alcohol, you need an ID to do almost anything as a legal adult except for voting and it allows people to cheat the system and allows for a lot of votes to pop out of thin air without any identification behind them. Having an ID largely prevents that from happening.”

Kyle Welch ’18

The color associated with this quote is only a representation of the political party of the speaker, and not of whom they voted for.

A. Klionsky/The Phillipian

Student Commentary

Apathy is Not the Answer

By Junah Jang

Junah Jang ’20 argues that indifference and apathy towards the 2016 Presidential Election causes more harm than good to U.S. voters.

An Unintended Audience

“I think that [tuition] should be free, but I’m also not very knowledgable on fiscal policies in general, so I don’t know where the money would come from. I would support it if it came from cutting tax loopholes for the elite upper class and then using that to subsidize education for people who are arguably middle class.”

Claudia Meng ’18

The color associated with this quote is only a representation of the political party of the speaker, and not of whom they voted for.